


Wilderness

by mintywrites



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: M/M, sex mention but no actual sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-23 17:41:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15611556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintywrites/pseuds/mintywrites
Summary: David is leaving for a camping trip, but he needs to have a conversation with Dinesh before he goes.





	Wilderness

Dinesh had always scoffed at extreme survival hobbyists. Who in their right mind would choose to spend time in nature with minimal gear and provisions when they could be in their cozy warm beds? But he kept his mouth shut when it came to David- not only was he the exception to the “everyone who goes camping for fun is a moron” rule, this was also the only exception to the “everything about David is perfect” rule, and Dinesh was just happy that David’s dumb hobby was camping and not juggling. Then he would _have_ to dump him.

Dinesh tried his hardest to smile and nod through David’s week of preparation for his annual three-day wilderness excursion, and actually survived listening to his "tried and true" method of how to choose the right water purifier, but he never would have guessed that the worst part would come after David was all packed and ready to go.

The night before David's departure, Dinesh walked into the living room to find him sitting on the couch, and motioning for Dinesh to sit down next to him. Dinesh felt a wave of excitement, expecting this to be some kind of pre-vacation romantic gesture. David turned to face Dinesh, and he followed suit.

“Listen Dinesh, before I leave, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Dinesh felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. _Why do relationships need to involve difficult conversations? Why can’t we just have goodbye sex and call it a night?_

“I really like you which is why I want to be completely honest with you. And I definitely don’t want you to find out from anyone other than me, right now, before I leave. My survival buddy Garrett is one of my closest friends, and last year when we went on this trip together, we kissed. It only happened because he was going through a rough breakup, and I was trying to comfort him. But it was a mistake, and we both know that. And nothing is going to happen between us this weekend. Like I said I’m telling you this because I really like you, and if I kept quiet about it I’d feel like I was lying to you.”

Dinesh sat in stunned silence. This was absolutely the last thing he was expecting to hear. He was usually suspicious of any decent looking male friend of David’s, but when David had told him about his camping buddy, the feeling of jealousy never crossed Dinesh’s mind. After all, a thin sleeping bag on rocky ground with bugs everywhere was the last place he’d expect romance to blossom.

“....Dinesh? You okay?”

“Uh… I mean it’s a lot to process. ...Are you just telling me this because you hope I’ll get jealous and insist on coming camping with you?”

“Babe, I know there’s no way that will happen, no matter how jealous you get.”

Dinesh smiled at how well David knew him, but it only untied the knot in his stomach for a second before he began feeling worse than before. He gulped as he imagined David and a muscular underwear model talking and laughing under the stars, miles from another living soul. _But if David intended on doing anything with this guy, he wouldn’t tell me about this. Right?_

“I’m sorry for springing this on you. But you really have to believe me, Garrett is my good friend and nothing more. If there was anything between us, we would have started dating a year ago, but we didn’t.”

“Did you and him… umm…” Dinesh instantly regretted asking that. He really didn’t want to know if they’d slept together- he and David hadn’t even done that yet. At least, not in the way Dinesh was praying David hadn’t done with this Garrett guy. Dinesh decided he’d get up and leave if David answered wrong.  _I could always go to Jared's, and Jeff basically does owe me for life..._

Before Dinesh could plot any further, David answered, “We kissed, and ah, a little more than that, but we both realized we were making a big mistake and stopped before we did anything we’d really regret.”

“So you _don’t_ regret it?”

David sighed. He’d been trying so hard not to use any language that might imply that it was a particularly good memory. “Well… I didn’t. But now I feel shitty about it. I’d always just thought of it as an emotionally vulnerable mistake. Well not really a mistake, just something that happened. An emotionally vulnerable _incident_. It didn’t change our friendship, and I'd basically forgotten it had happened, until I realized I was going to be spending a weekend alone with him, with you at home.”

Dinesh finally tore his gaze from the coffee table and looked up at David. His heart fluttered when David reached over and put a hand on his. Part of him was amazed that such a small gesture could still make him feel this way after two months of dating.

“You feeling okay? If you don’t want me to go, I’ll stay home.”

“No, you don’t have to do that." Dinesh couldn't believe the words as they were coming out of his mouth. Was he actually taking the high road on this? A month ago, he would have jumped at the chance to make David stay home, but somehow letting him go felt right.

"I know how much you've been looking forward to this. I’m- I’m okay. I mean I’ll worry, it will probably be a little hard for me to sleep, but I know you won’t do anything.”

David smiled and scooted closer to Dinesh on the couch so he could put his arm around him. “That’s right. I’m all yours.”

Dinesh chuckled and leaned into him. They spent a few moments in content silence before Dinesh’s eyes popped open.

“Wait a second… this feeling I’m having right now, is that how you felt when I told you about Gilfoyle? Oh my God, I am so sorry I put you through that.”

“Dinesh, it’s fine…”

“No really! You’re just going away for one weekend but I go to work with him every day! How did you do it? I need tips for how to survive until you get back."

David kissed the top of Dinesh’s head. “It was tough. Some days I didn’t want to let you go to work. I wanted to beg you to call in sick and spend the whole day with me. I mean it's normal for couples to want to skip work and spend the day together, but I knew I wasn't just trying to spend more time with you, I wanted to keep you from him, and that was unhealthy. So I said _I’m not that guy, and we’re not that couple_ and I held it in. And you went off to work, and it got a little easier every day. There were times I was convinced you'd stand me up because you were with him, or I thought when I walked up to your office I’d see the two of you making out on your desk through the window. But I trusted you, and I trusted from what you told me about him that you’d never go down that road again.”

Dinesh wrinkled his brow as he absentmindedly traced a finger over David’s arm. It seemed like an eternity since Gilfoyle had been an issue in their relationship, but it really wasn’t that long ago. And to a certain extent, as long as Dinesh was still working with Gilfoyle, it still was an issue- at least, that’s how Dinesh would feel if the shoe were on the other foot.

“-...And I stopped feeling paranoid because I know that you really like me. And before long you’ll stop feeling paranoid too, because you know I really, really, really like you.”

Dinesh grinned as he felt David’s forefinger tilt his chin up so he could kiss him. Maybe goodbye sex wasn’t in the cards after all, but this was still nice.

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning, Dinesh was awoken by David’s 4:30 alarm. He’d previously been trying to decide between seeing David out like a good boyfriend and going back to sleep, but now he was torn about whether he wanted to meet Garrett. While trying to decide, he accidentally fell back asleep, and was awoken twenty minutes later by a gentle kiss to the forehead.

“Bye babe. I’ll see you on Sunday. I’ll miss you.”

Dinesh decided in that moment that he would like to meet Garrett after all, and sprung from the bed. He was still a little wobbly on his feet, and allowed David to lead him to the front door. Dinesh felt like he may fall back asleep standing up when he heard an unfamiliar voice.

“It’s nice to meet you Dinesh, I’m Garrett.”

Dinesh’s eyes opened blearily and Garrett came into focus. He appeared to be a plain-looking white dude. Dinesh blinked and rubbed his eyes before taking a second look. The guy was in shape, as Dinesh had been expecting, since he’d known him to be the type to chop his own firewood. However he was nowhere near underwear model material. There was nothing particularly terrible about any of his features, but nothing very special either.

Dinesh grinned and reached out his hand for a shake. “And it is so great to meet you, Garrett. Have a great time this weekend!”

Dinesh waved as David and Garrett made their way down to the car before closing the door and collapsing on the couch. He wouldn’t be losing any sleep this weekend after all.

 

* * *

 

 

“How could you not mention that?!”

“It’s great to hear from you, too, honey.” David said into the phone. He’d just picked up cell service after leaving the woods.

“Oh yeah, I’m glad you’re safe, can’t wait for you to come home… Anyway how could you not tell me what a dogface Garrett is?”

David looked over at Garrett, who was pumping gas, before leaning into the phone and whispering, “I don’t appreciate you calling my friend a ‘dogface’. ...and I didn’t tell you he was one because I didn’t think it was relevant.”

“Yeah right. You know that you could have just showed me his Facebook profile picture and saved me all that worry. …did you let me feel that way to get back at me for Gifloyle?”

“What? Of course not! This doesn’t compare at all, you only felt jealous for one evening.”

“So you did do it on purpose! Maybe I won’t give you your coming home present after all.”

“Coming home present?”

“Well it’s like a coming home-slash-’Sorry for making you feel jealous over Gilfoyle’ present.”

“Dinesh, I’m sorry. It was shitty of me to make you worry. But to be fair, Gilfoyle’s not much of a looker himself, and you were still into him enough to make me jealous.”

“...fair point. Now get back in the car so you can come home faster. But don't bother unless you've gotten all this dumb camping stuff out of your system til next year.”

David grinned. "Believe me, Dinesh, there's only one thing on my mind right now."


End file.
